Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research

Volume 12 Number 2 JAAER Winter 2003 Article 6

Winter 2003

Improving Cabin Safety

Wendy Helfrich

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Scholarly Commons Citation Helfrich, W. (2003). Improving Airline Cabin Safety. Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research, 12(2). Retrieved from https://commons.erau.edu/jaaer/vol12/iss2/6

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Cabin Safety

FORUM

IMPROMNG ALRLINE CABIN SAFETY

Wendy Helfrich

Improving cabin safety has become a number one priority for the as well as the traveling public. The airlines have made many changes since the terrorist events of September 1 1,200 1. Hefich Consulting recommends additional changes to increase cabin safety.

Certification real opening of door Left-1. There is no real door Right-1. Flight Attendants are trained to FAA-approved standards Flight Attendants should have to physically open door to provide medical assistance far from hospitals, fight fires, Right- I. Many Flight Attendants would pass the drills if assist passengers in decompressions, and set a heroic they actually had a door Right-1 to cross over to. These example in crashes. They serve as the last line of defense drills should also have passengers in the seats. This would in q hijacking. They are highly skilled and a very talented give Flight Attendants the experience ofdealing with a full work group. Pilots, flight engineers, mechanics and air flight and an evacuation. In addition, pilots should be traflic controllers all receive certification following their inchled. This would give Flight Attendants and pilots an mandatory FAA training. Flight Attendants however, are idea of how an evacuation might proceed in reality. This not certified by the FAA. It's time for their profaionalism also would enforce teamwork, or Crew Resource and expertise to be mgniz.ed by some type of cedcation. ManagemenL Many Flight Attendants do not realize that during an aborted takeofF, it will be several minutes before Sky Marshals they hear from the flight deck. Like Line Oriented Flight The first step in increasing airline cabin safety begins with Training (LOFT),these coordinated drills should include sky marshals. P-ger "sky ragen is becoming common. various emergency scenarios that cannot be predicted by the !jecurity training for Flight Attendants is minimal. participants. Personal defense training, where it exists, is voluntary. During the process the Flight Attendants must Decompression Training find an "Able-Bodied Person" to assist with possible cases Realistic decompression training needs to be included in of passenger misconduct. Once a passenger is subdued, training curricula. '1f light Attendants could experience there are flex cuffs available to secure them. Flight actual maskdonning masks and landing preparation it attendants (with the help of passengers) are not a good would greatly enhance their skills. Currently in training, answer to the problem of disruptive passengers. This is why Flight Attendants only read about decompression. sky marshals should be on every flight. Terrorists have a Additionally, children's oxygen masks should also be 97 %chance of taking over a flight that does not have sky available in Passenger Service Units. This is because a marshals onboard. Also, when sky marshals , they cannot reahtically be expected to don her should to be seated throughout the cabin (forward and aft), Portable Oxygen Bottle (FOB), grab several Dixie cups, not just in . poke holes in the bottom of the cup to attach the hose, and then get to the child before Sme passes out as is currently Evacuation Drills with the Crew the procedure. Emergency evacuation drills should be done in N1 mock-up. There should be no pretending, as is done now. Larger Exit Rows and Widows Curre~~lly,Flight Auenda~llsshout w~imandsand open The exit rows nccd improvement for casy acccss. The exit door Left-1, evacuate passengers and must then crossover rows should be wider and the windows should be larger for to door Right-1 and repeat. These drills are done with the realistic emergency aocess. Currently, the average person

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Cabin Sqfety

would have a difficult time exiting the aircraA Life vest eetiously. Another problem is that fact that larger Airlines should have life vests even when flying less than people (needing seat belt extensions) sit in exit rows for the FAA minimum of 150 miles hmland If a pilot needs extra room. This problem could be solved by not allowing to make an emergency landing in water, life vests will be seat belt extensions in exit rows. needed to save lives.

Larger Windows on Doors Airphones Door windows on doors Left-1, Right-1, Left-2 and Right-2 Auphones need to be reinstated. Flight Attendants are need to be bigger. These windows should be at least the required to contact Medlink when they have a medical same size as passenger windows because they are used for emergency. Medlink is a service provided to the airlines. assessing evacuation conditions and communicating with They have a doctor available twenty-four hours a day, seven I the agents. days a week to offer medical assistance. They also accept all liabilities. Without the Airphones, Flight Attendants Fireproof Fabric have to contact the pilots through the interphones. The Airlines should use Mric that is more fire resistant. Fire pilots then relay the medical information to the Flight and smoke on an airplane are deadly. Currently, most Attendant. E3y adding the Airphones, the Flight Atkdants airlines only comply with the minimum fire resistant have direct contact with Medlink. Additionally, Airphones standards. Up-g fabric and carpet could save lives. can allow Flight Attendants and passengers the opportunity to relay crucial information to the ground in the event of a More Fire Bottles hijacking.. Airlines need more fire bottles on board. Airlines only carry the FAA required minimum. For example, a Boeing Larger Seats 737-400 has four fire extinguishers. Two are halon To decrease and/or eliminate air rage, airlines should extinguishersthat have a 10-15 second duration. The other increase passenger seat pitch. The average seat pitch on two bottles are water. The duration of a water extinguisher domestic caniers is 32". Seat pitch is a measurement fmm is 30 seconds. With more fire bottles on board the risk of the back of one seat to the back of the one directly in front spreading fire and smoke is lessened. of it. The issue of seat width is confusing due to the various ways airlines quote seat width. Some provide the Portable Oxygen Bottles (POB) and Medical Oxygen measurement between the inside of the armrests, others the Airlines need more oxygen bottles on board. For example, distance between the middle of the anmrests. Also, the a -400 has five portable oxygen bottles. Only middle seat should have its own armrests. one is used for decompression. Another is for therapeutic use only after a cabin decompression. The other three are Inflight Yoga for mobility and first aid. There are two medical oxygen Airlines should offer an inflight yoga program to take the bottles. These are only used by customers with a medical pain out of . Each seat-back pocket could be condition requiring pre-planned oxygen. equipped with a lighthearted yoga instruction card supplied in partnership with Crunch Fitness. These instrwtions Defibrillators would offer four yoga exercises passengers can do without Defibrillators should be a required piece of emergency leaving their assigned seats. equipment on board. A defibrillator sends electrical shocks to a person's heart when it begins beating abnormally. The More Crew Members shocks can return the heart to its normal pattern, Airlines need more crew. Currently, airlines staff preventing death. Defibrillators can also be used to minimum crew for flights. For example, the FAA requires monitor a person's heart condition. Many Flight Attendants one Flight Attendant for fifty passengers. With additional feel much more comfortable having the defibrillators on crew members, Flight Attendants can be more aware of the board. To date, defibrillators have saved three lives on flight and passengers which translates into better security. Alaska Airlines alone. Minimum crew with full flights and meal service makes it

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Cabin Safe& very diflicult to attend to medical emergencies let alone Recently much attention has been placed on security issues. This would also improve customer service. security. Helfrich Consulting recommends that additional consideration be made with regard to the aircraft cabin. A terrorist can get through security with no weapon at all and Forward Clear of Passengers still hijack a fight. Additionally, the frequency of air rage Near the forward galley are the flight deck and the lavatory incidents has risen dramatically. To counter these recent for the first class passengers. Currently for example, one threats to cabin safety Helfrich Consulting recommends major airline requires passengers to form a line at row six that: when using the lavatory. No one is allowed in the forward 1. Flight Attendants should receive certification galley and most passengers comply. However, Helfiich like all other aviation professionals. Consulting recommends that absolutely no one be allowed 2. Sky marshals should be on board all flights, to use the forward lavatory. Th&is a safety precaution and positioned at the front and rear of the cabin. also allows the pilots sole use of the lavatory. 3. Evacuation drill should be done in a realistic environment similar to pilot Lin Oriented FAA Infant Plight Seats Flight Training (LOFT). Currently, the FAA allows an infant to be carried aboard as 4. Flight Attendants need realistic a lap child. Federal Aviation regulations should require decompression training. that every person, no matter how young, have their own 5. Exit rows and windows should be larger. seat. In case of accident, the chances of survival of an 6. Exit door windows should be larger. infant sitting in a lap are greatly decreased. 7. Aircraft interior fabrics should be as fireproof as possible. Self-Defense Training 8. More firebottles and oxygen bottles should be Flight Attendants need selfdefense training. Atemi Jujitsu carried on board. is perfect for our profession. This type of defense does not 9. Defibrillators should be on board require much training or strength. It is based upon the 10. Life vests should be onboard when flying over ability to hit your opponent's weak spots and the provides any water. the confidence to carry it out. Other types of training are 11. Airphones should be installed. costly and require weekly practice. Atemi Jujitsu should be 12. Passenger seat size and pitch should be made part of recurrent training. Today, airlines need Flight larger Attendants that can help protect the flight deck. They need 13. Passengers should be encouraged to exercise self-defense skills as well as safety skills. Airlines cannot during the flights. continue to rely on the "good Samaritan" or "heron 14. Airlines should add more crew member for passengers. each flight. 15. Passengers should not be allowed to line up in High-Tech Crew ID front of the forward lavatories. Airline need a new type of ID card that would identify 16. Infants should have their own seats. pilots and Flight Attendants using a picture, password and 17. Flight Attendants should have selfdefense some type of biometric information, such as an iris scan. training. An iris scan is very di&cult to compromise, duplimte or 18. Crews need new high-tech identifications forge. The iris scan takes about 10 seconds to register both systems.0 eyes for the fmt time. It take only an half-second for the system to make a recognition. This would cut clown the on the need for crew members to take off articles of clothing at security checkpoints. It would also protect against someone who had stolen a crew member's uniform.

Summary

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Published by Scholarly Commons, 2003 3 Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research, Vol. 12, No. 2 [2003], Art. 6

Wendy Helfrich is a Flight Attendant for Alaska Airlines and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Professional Aeronautics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She is the founder of Helfiich Safety Consulting.

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